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atmosphere to make human and plant life possible: the interaction of birds, insects,
animals (in the popular sense) and plants to maintain the process of nature. This design,
if man will only see it, is to teach man about the invisible things of God:
"The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead"
(Rom.i.20).
The supreme power of God through the ages (His eternal power and Godhead) of the
earth has manifested itself at specific points of time in the Bible record. For example:
the creation of Gen. 1:; the universal deluge of Noah; the signs and wonders performed
by Moses before Pharaoh; the parting of the Red Sea; the virgin birth of Christ; the
raising of Lazarus; the resurrection of Christ, etc.
When we see how complex life is and yet purposeful in God's hands we do not
wonder man cannot define it in words. Yet God declares through His Word that Christ is
life. Can we not see that Christ and the message of this Gospel are going to make
meaning and purpose to all life? The O.T. focuses by type and prophecy, attention on the
coming Saviour of the world, while the N.T. magnifies and explains the result of His first
advent, and looks forward to the blessed results of His Second Coming. All this teaching
is in human terms (life) that we can understand (light). For example:
Gen. 22: The faith of Abraham ready at the command of God to sacrifice his long
awaited son. This is a picture of the ordeal of God the Father. "He that spared not His
Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom. 8: 32). Needless to say the story of
Abraham has other implications.
Exod. 16: The daily provision of manna to Israel in the wilderness. A picture of the
True Bread from heaven. "Your father did eat manna in the wilderness . . . . . I am the
living bread which came down from Heaven" (John 6: 49-51).
In this context Christ speaks of eating His flesh and in verse 63 He explains that `the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life'. When we eat bread (a food
containing many life sustaining chemicals) it becomes part of us. Even so the picture is
that by reading and understanding the Word of God with guidance by the Spirit of Truth
we can grow in spiritual understanding of the will of the Father through the words He has
committed to the Son. This understanding leads to true life.
Consider a perfect human family. Man, his wife, one flesh in procreation, the training
of the infant child, at first firm quick correction unexplained, later discipline with
explanation for application, and later still at maturity entering and enjoying the close
counsels of his father. All this is a picture of what our relation with God can be in
spiritual terms. The Bible teems with similar lessons including the characteristics of the
ant, moth, rust, sow, dog, etc. These examples of human experience in contact with
surrounding works of God's creation are not chance, but we believe they have all been
planned by God to teach those who are ready to be taught the spiritual realities of God's
will.
The selection by John, guided by the Holy Spirit, of our Lord's teaching on the subject
of life continuously underlines the gift of unending spiritual life the believer enjoys by his